The Workings Of The Mind
by ChescaLynn
Summary: Paige Dineen did not know what she was getting into, when she applied for a slot in a Mental Hospital. AU
1. Chapter 1

"Mrs...Dineen, I presume?" A hard faced, short woman called from the doorway.

Paige Dineen looked up, "Yes!" She said quickly, picking up her bag and hurriedly walking to the metal door that had been opened, "Come on Ralph." She said softly, holding her son close to her side, his backpack bumping against her waist.

The woman sighed, "This was please, the woman's locker is this way." She pointed gruffly.

With a quick nod, she stopped outside the door, "Ralph, stand right here and do not move a muscle, am I clear?" She asked quietly.

No answer, but she walked into the locker room anyways. In a few moments, she came out in the usual scrubs and gloves all the other orderlies wore, and the other worker- Angeline was her nametag –pointed at a hallway, "Three doors down on the left, Mr. Curtis will see you now."

Paige rapped on the door three times in quick succession.

"Come in!"

The door squeaked open, and Paige escorted her son inside the brown and red room, lined with bookcases. It was a heavy contrast to the blue and bleach white walls and flooring out in the hallway, but it felt almost picturesque.

In a large chair, a man in a black hat and cocky smile turned to greet her, "Paige Dineen! What a beautiful day to meet you on, and this must be Ralph."

"Doctor Curtis." Paige gave a relaxed smile, "I will admit, it is very fast paced here."

Toby laughed, "They just want to get formalities over with, as do I. Your application came just in the nick of time, our old orderly Maxine left on such short notice."

"I will admit, Doctor Curtis-"

"Please," He interrupted, "Call me Toby, then I won't have to call you Mrs. Dineen and we can all save ourselves a mouthful."

Paige nodded, "Ok then, Toby, I will admit, I was surprised when you offered my son the accommodations I asked for."

Toby's smile was steady as always, "We're excited to have him. Allow me to introduce you to your patients, and then we can get Ralphy-boy here set up, sound good?" Without waited for an answer, Doctor Curtis stood up and walked out the door. Paige had to walk quickly to match his long strides.

A few hallways later, he stopped outside of the doorway with the name 'O'Brian' overtop of it. It was a dark hallway, a bit foreboding, but Toby seemed to brighten anything he was around. He turned to her, "This is basically your hallway. Every orderly is given a maximum of 5 patients, but we have...I will be honest, 3 of our toughest patients here."

Paige looked down the hallway, "Where will Ralph be positioned?"

"Right here." He pointed to a small area inside the doorway, with a desk, chair, and lamp. A plug was positioned underneath it, but it was blocked off by covers that had been screwed into the socket. Ralph tugged at Paige's sleeve, tapping his backpack anxiously.

"I thought-"

Toby cut in, "Any electrical uses are commonly blocked off...but I can have Mr. Gallow, fix something up for you tomorrow."

Before Ralph could protest, an angry scream made both Dineens jump. Toby's eyes widened, "Ralph, why don't you sit down, I'll have an orderly give you the Wifi password, Paige come with me."

The urgency in his voice made Paige rush, but by the time they got near the first door, orderlies were flooding the room.

"Get the hell off me!" A woman's voice screamed, "Get off!"

Toby barged right into the fray, "Happy!" He yelled over the commotion, "Step back, step away." He warned the men trying to hold her down. Annoyed, the three men walked back against the wall, waiting for one wrong move.

Paige stayed in the doorway, as Toby kneeled down near the huddling woman in the corner, "Happy, what-"

"Get _away_!" The black-haired woman screamed, kicking out at the doctor, who ducked just in time. Just as the men made a move, Toby held out his hand, "No, not yet."

He tried again, "Happy, tell me what happened."

"They tried to _stab_ me!" she yelled.

The man standing farthest from the door gave an ugly laugh, "Doc, come on-"

Toby stood up and faced the man at least two times bigger, "I asked for _her_ to tell me what happened. If you can't let the woman tell her story, then maybe you should tale the rest of the day off."

Angrily, the man shoved past Paige and stomped down the hallway. Paige watched him go, making sure her son was not in any danger.

"Now then," Toby kneeled back down, "Happy, tell me exactly what happened."

Happy growled, "I was working on my cars, when that son of a bitch-" She pointed to the door "-came up behind me and tried to stab me."

Toby nodded slightly, "So, he scared you. Let me ask one more question, is that ok? Did he try to hurt you with this." He opened his hand, and in it was a small crushed syringe, liquid dribbling down his fingers.

"Yeah..." Happy blinked, "Hey wait...that looks like my-"

"Your medicine, your daily dose to be exact." Toby consoled. "I'll talk to him about surprising you next time, but for now, someone else will be administrating your medication."

Happy looked scared for a moment, "Max?"

"Max is never, ever coming back here. We have a new orderly, her name is Paige." He motioned for Paige to come in.

Slowly, Paige approached, "Hey there Happy, it's nice to meet you." She looked down at something she had just bumped against. A hand sized, blue car with no doors was next to her foot, she picked it up, "Is this yours?"

Happy suddenly looked like a little girl, "Can I... _may_ I...have it back?" She asked softly.

Paige smiled, "Of course." She said, kneeling down to the girls level and holding it out in her open palm.

Happy leaned forward, then hesitated, her eyes narrowed, "You're not gonna...snatch it back, right? I can just...have it?"

Toby looked sad, but Paige gently set it on the floor, just a hands length away from Happy, and stepped back. "I would never do that." She assured quietly.

As soon as Happy had the small car in her hand, she scowled at Paige, holding it close to her chest, and pulling a small screwdriver out of her pocket. She hunched over, and resumed taking off the thumbnail sized doors. Toby patted her shoulder, before standing up and walking with Paige out the door.

"Happy Quinn, 28 years old, arrived about 9 years ago with severe Anger Management, and memory issues. Some days she can remember everything clear as a bell, other days she doesn't even know where she is. It's like Alzheimer's, only its different. We honestly are not sure why it's happening, but we're working on a cure for her as we speak. Its...not going well."

Paige nodded, "Any tips?"

"Knock before entering, make sure she is actually making eye contact. Sometimes she's so into her cars, she doesn't register anything else. If all else fails, tap on the floor a bit, she'll feel the vibrations. Also, never outright call her wrong, she hates that. If she gets angry, leave and get me immediately, it happens all the time and she trusts me."

Paige looked back at the doorway, "Who is Max?"

Toby's face hardened, "Nobody anyone needs to worry about anymore."

With that, Toby knocked on the next door. Paige listened, "Is that...crying?"

"Shit." The doctor muttered, before opening the door, "Sylvester...buddy are you ok?"

Sitting upright on the bed, a large man sat, hands stretched out in front of him, shaking with sobs. His hands were shaking the hardest, his eyes fixed on them.

Toby rushed over to the bedside table, and opened the drawer, pulling out some gloves and putting them on, "Hold on there buddy...what did you do, huh?" He murmured kindly, picking up the hand-sanitizer. "Make a bowl, remember?" Toby asked, waiting for the large man to cup his shaking hands in front of him. A long stream of the cleaning liquid flooded his hands, and tears of fear turned to tears of relief.

Slowly, Toby stepped back, smiling. Paige looked at where the sanitizer bottle had used to be, and noticed tape, outlining the bottle. Toby walked back over, and was very careful to put the bottle back exactly where the tape was.

Taking off the gloves, Toby began talking, "Sly, this is Paige Dineen, she's going to be your new orderly...can you say hi?"

Without looking up from his rubbing, Sylvester seemed to be talking to himself, looking intently at his hands with a peaceful smile.

Toby sighed, "I'll get you gloves tomorrow big guy. See you in a few hours."

As he shut the door, Toby rubbed a hand over his face, dropping the gloves into the garbage. Paige looked at him, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah...it's just sad to see him like that." He rubbed the back of his neck, "Sylvester Dodd, severe Germaphobe, severe OCD, and basically has the mind of a five year old. Came in about 6 years ago, just got worse from there."

Paige sighed, "That's sad. Anything I should know?"

Toby laughed, "I could write a rule book. Usually he's fine, but we ran out of gloves for him to wear today. I have to go buy more, he wears a special size, and since he's the only one that needs them, sometimes we run out. Anyways, there's three major things. One, everything is outlined in the room for a reason, if it's even a millimeter out of place, he will see it, and he will panic. Two, he has to have his gloves on every morning, as soon as he wakes up, otherwise he can't do anything. Always wash down whatever he says or points to. Third thing, never _ever_ touch him without gloves on."

Taking a deep breath, Paige looked at the last door with apprehension, "Ok, one more...I can do this."

"This one is...different-" Toby started, but a thud from inside and a very long string of curse words interrupted him, "Man, this day just keeps getting better."

He pushed the door open quickly, "Walter?"

"I'm fine."

Paige walked quickly in, to observe a mess of dark curly hair, and frustrated brown eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**A special thanks to the people who made me continue this fanfiction by sending me their wonderful reviews! I can't wait to hopefully post more support next chapter. So thank you, ScorplinginTraining, pamz, dragonfly42pf, LindaP and bobolovesclyde, you guys are awesome.**

Chapter 2:

"Mr. O'Brian," Toby scolded, "We have an assistance button in here for a reason!" He turned the wheelchair upright, the reached down to help the man up.

The man's eyes hardened, "I don't need your help." He muttered, reaching up for the beam on the side of the wall and trying to pull himself up.

Toby rolled his eyes, and brought the wheelchair over to the man's back, and helping him from behind. "There. Now that we got that out of the way, Walter meet your new orderly, Paige Dineen."

"Greetings." Walter muttered, "Now if you excuse me." He rolled his wheelchair over to a table on the other side of the room, and picked up a leather bound book, with a pencil next to it.

"Paige, Walter O'Brian . Paralyzed from the waist down, severe PTSD, just plain prissy in general." Toby sat on the edge of the bed, crossing his arms.

Walter pulled his chair over to the bed, and grabbed a metal bar that hung over it, hoisting himself up and into the bed. His arms looked scrawny, but Paige could tell he exerted more upper body strength then you could see on the outside. "Thank you Toby for your...tender discourse around me. It's good to meet you, Mrs. Dineen, but I doubt I will need much assistance from you in the near future. Here."

He held out a folded up paper he had pulled from inside the book. Paige took it, and unfolded it, feeling confused as small typed handwriting. "And this is...?

"A list of triggers. This way you will be able to keep your job longer." He stated simply, pulling himself up to sit a little straighter, "If that's all then I'm going to have to ask you to go, I want to continue my writing and I cannot do so with distractions."

Toby ushered her out the door before Paige could think.

"Well...he certainly is..."

Rolling his eyes, Toby muttered, "A prick? Yeah, I know."

Paige looked at the shut door, "His mind seems perfectly fine, if I may ask, why is her here? In the difficult side of all places?"

Sighing, Toby sat down on a hard bench that resided against the wall, "Let me explain. Walter O'Brian was a college professor, who taught Phycology, Physics and Bio-Chemistry. Only 32% of his classes made a passing grade, 7% of them got B's, and the rare 2% got A's. He was credited for forming the best in the field."

Nodding, Paige looked at the small form of her son down the hallway, "What happened?"

"Car crash."

Toby noted the shudder, the quick turn in her seat to see Ralph was still ok. He continued as if he didn't see it, "Lost his Fiancé, nephew and his dog. Worst part was, he dragged the girlfriend outside, had to hold her as she bled out. Major PTSD problems, semi-paralyzation from the waist down."

Paige looked confused, "Semi-paralyzation? And that still doesn't answer my question, PTSD is not the worst-"

"I say Semi because it could be fixed with enough physical therapy, but he won't go. Survivors guilt keeps him in that room and no doctor in the world can convince him to leave." He ran a hand thru his hair, "Paige, the reason he won't leave is the same reason his name is above this hallway. Walter paid for most of this establishment, and still pays for it today...he sure is rich enough. Had a sister here, in the same room his is now, with Multiple Personality Disorder. Parents physically abused both of them, and she was basically his parent until she turned 14, when the authorities re-homed them."

Paige sat back, "You're kidding me...and the list?" The turned over the piece of folded paper in her hands.

"I did say he was a prick." Toby joked, a wry smile across his face. "Walter is...forthright. He doesn't like tip-toing around anything in general, and he will speak his mind so prepare for that."

With that, a nasally voiced nurse sounded from the speakers, "Attention, dinner will be served in 10 minutes, please be in the mess hall on time or it will all be cold." A loud ringing sound echoed as she fumbled with the mic, making everyone in the building cringe.

Toby stood up, "I gotta get my room ready for my night patients...if you need anything, and if anyone gives you any problems...you can definitely interrupt."

Paige shook the outstretched hand offered to her, "Thank you so much Toby, I better go get my patients ready."

Toby watched her walk to Walter's door, and take a deep breath. She turned around once to look at him, he flashed her his most encouraging grin and sent two tumbs up, watching as she knocked.

'Y _ou did the right thing.'_

Toby didn't even turn to the person now sitting next to him, "Go. Away." He mumbled under his breath.

 _'_ _Calm yourself hotshot,'_ She soothed, _'Just wanted to let you know, you did good.'_

Then, she was gone.

And Toby was rushing back to his room to take his medicine.

This would not happen again.

 **I apopogize for the really, really short chapter but I'm trying to update, lol. Let me know what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A Humongous thanks to the following people, swho supported me from the last chapter: LindaP, Dragondancer81, pamz,** **S** **corpilinginTraining, PasoFinoLove, and the ever present Guest.**

 **Hope you guys like this chapter!**

Chapter 3:

Paige internally rolled her eyes at the cheesy, unhelping grin Toby shot her way, and knocked.

"Rule number 21."

She jumped at the ready answer, and looked down at the paper.

 _Rule 21: Knocking is prohibited, use the buzzer to the left of the door._

"Great." Paige mumbled under her breath, pressing the buzzer and hearing a humming noise on the other side of the door.

Walter's voice became louder as she opened the door, "Come in. Maybe you should read the paper before you do something extremely detrimental to your job."

Paige resisted the urge to shoot back a snarky comment, "I just came to ask you if you needed any help getting to Dinner?"

"Getting to dinner?" Walter forced out a very fake laugh, "Mrs. Dineen, I don't know if you understand yet, but I never associate with anyone in this place. Dinner comes to me. My usual menu is on the door, today is Tuesday, is it not?"

Paige gritted her teeth, "Yes sir it is, I'll have your dinner right after I help the others get to the dining hall."

"Normally I am fed first-"

This time, Paige cut off Walter, "But that wouldn't be fair to the other two patients here, even though you have a very strange, unhealthy sense of entitlement surrounding you, there are other people in this ward and I don't know how your last orderly treated you, but I certainly won't be giving you as much special attention."

With that, Paige walked out, a sick feeling growing in her stomach.

-  
After 5 minutes of trying desperately to get Sylvester thru the door, Paige realized she had absolutely no clue what she was doing.

"Come on Sylvester...the food's getting cold and I still have to get Happy."

No movement came from the large man on the bed.

Paige was on the verge of tears, "Look, Sly, it's my first day...I don't know what I'm doing here. Please...help me out?"

When there was no response, Paige leaned heavily on the doorframe, head burrowed in her arm.

Moments passed.

"Move."

Paige jumped, just in time to see Happy push past. Fear shot thru the woman, fear that Happy was going to hurt Sylvester, that she would do something-

Then she stopped.

Happy put on the gloves and pulled the small car from before out of her pocket. "Sly, look at me." The car was waved in front of Sylvester, his eyes lit up immediately, and he looked up at Happy expectantly.

"They have your favorite pudding today...you comin?"

Sylvester slung his legs over the bed using his leverage to pull himself up. "Pudding?" He asked softly.

Happy smiled, "Yeah man, pudding. That Tapioca kind you love. Now I'm hungry, so can we go?"

"Pudding."

"Yeah Sly, and its running out."

Paige stood, stunned for a moment, before walking quickly after the two. Happy called over her shoulder, "You need to take care of Sylvester during eating times, I'll show you."

A small corner table was empty, only two small benches occupying it. One of these benches had a canister of disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer next to it, plastic spork and plate already there. Sylvester stood waiting, as Happy took a wipe and cleaned the metal bench, the table, plate, and spork, all with a different wipe, making a pile. "I'll get him food, you stay here."

Before Paige could protest, happy had taken the plate and headed to the long line of patients surrounding the table that held plates of food. Sylvester sat down heavily, moving his large hands uncomfortably inside the undersized gloves Paige had helped squish onto him.

Paige sighed, "I'm sorry they ran out of gloves, I'll ask about them later."

He didn't seem to hear her, his eyes glued onto Happy's small back.

In a few moments, Happy placed a plate of food on her spot and Sylvester's spot. He in turn, picked up his spork and began eating, which was a very strange ritual.

Take a bite, set down the utensil, take a squirt of hand sanitizer, wipe off hands, pick up drink, take a drink, set down drink, clean hands, take a bite, clean, take a drink, clean.

Paige became so fascinated with this, she was startled when Happy said, "Did you already get Walter his food?"

In a panic, Paige rushed to the table, picked up a plate and flew down the hallway, spork in her other hand. She buzzed the door, opening it as soon as she heard what started as 'C.' "I'm so sorry I forgot, I was helping Sylvester and Happy had to get him out of his room and...I...came as fast..." She trailed off. Walter was sitting up in bed, head in his hands, breathing hard.

Paige knew a flashback when she saw one.

She put the plate on the small bedside table and winced as he jumped at the noise the plastic spork made. "Walter?" She asked quietly, moving around to his front.

His eyes were wide, his breathing fast and uneven. His hands were clutched to his head, curly hair doused in sweat. Maternal instincts kicked in, Paige kneeled down in front of him and put her hands on his face, "Look at me Walter." She murmured, "Wherever you are right now, it's not real."

"Becca."

His voice was strained, eyes brimming with tears. Paige brought herself closer, "Breath, Walter, it's all done now."

"R...Rebecca?"

This time, it was a question. Paige shook her head gently, "She's gone, Walter."

His head met her shoulder, and the sobs rocked his body.

Paige rubbed his back with her free hand, the other hand holding the back of his neck. Her eyes looked up as footsteps halted at the door.

Toby smiled sadly from the doorway. Without a word, he turned and walked away.

She had this under control.

And that was the moment, Toby knew everything was going to be alright.


	4. Chapter 4

**A thanks to** **LindaP, Dragondancer81, dragonfly42pf, Scorpionnumber1,** **S** **corpilinginTraining. and the ever present Guest.**

Chapter 4:

The rest of the week was a blur. Paige was on the afternoon shift, from 3 Pm to 10 Pm, which meant she was in charge of not only dinner time, but putting people to bed. At first, this was simple and easy to accomplish, until Friday came around.

The day had been very difficult. Sylvester had yet again run out of gloves, Happy was in Solitary Confinement, Walter was being _especially_ bitchy that night, and Toby was out. This left Paige completely weary inside and out, and it was only when she heard Sylvester crying for the fifth time that night, that she completely snapped.

Paige ran out of the hallway, past the corner opposite to the door, and straight into a man she had never seen before.

"Woah there, slow down kid." The man had a grizzled look to his face, a tie over his custodian suit. "You ok there?"

Paige wiped the tears from her eyes, "Oh...yes, yes I'm fine. I apologize for crashing into you-" She tried to go around him, but he gently grabbed her shoulder.

"You're ok...listen, why don't you sit down? I'm Cabe."

Heavily, Paige sat down on the metal bench. "Paige." She shook his hand, "I promise I usually don't do this...it's just been an incredibly difficult night."

Cabe nodded sympathetically, "You want to talk about it?"

The next 10 minutes, Cabe's face stayed sympathetic, and not once did he judge her makeup smudged eyes, or her constant stream of emotion. It was only when she was done, Cabe smiled.

"Kid, I know these guys. They're a handful, I would know, but you've been doing the best you can. How about this, you go into the bathroom and wash your face, and I'll run to Walgreens and pick up some more gloves for Sylvester. Sound good?"

Paige burst out into tears again, "Thank you, thank you so much."

Cabe patted her back, "Alright then. I'll be back faster than Jesse James on Cisco."

Within 20 minutes, Cabe had returned with gloves, and another small toy car that he placed on Happy's pillow. Sylvester fell asleep within moments after putting on his protection, and Walter slept without dreams.

Paige and Cabe talked for the last half an hour she was on shift, and then she went home.

The weekend passed without any activity, and Paige felt strangely distant from her job. She wondered how Walter was doing with his PTSD, if the other Orderly knew how to take care of Sylvester properly, if Happy would throw another fit and she wasn't around to stop it.

Monday came slowly, but Paige had never felt more content inside her blue orderly suit.

Two more weeks passed without much activity. Walter began to talk more, instruct less, Happy laughed at a joke Ralph had written for her, and mysterious boxes of gloves kept appearing in Sylvester's drawer. Toby mentioned to Paige on day that, "Happy actually asked about you over the weekend, wondered when you were coming back."

But everything started to go downhill about the middle of May.

"Sylvester is crying."

Paige's head snapped up to the sound of Happy's warning. "What happened?"

Happy shrugged, "Maybe he ran out of gloves?"

"He has two backup boxes in the cabinet, and I just replaced them a few moments ago." A strange feeling began wrapping its tendrils around Paige's stomach. She walked quickly to Sylvester's room, and gasped.

The man was crying, throw-up was all over the floor, and it looked like he wasn't done. "Happy go get Toby!" Paige yelled over her shoulder, grabbing her gloves and pushing a garbage can under Sylvester's mouth as he expelled his supper.

Within moments, Toby had appeared in the doorway, "Happy can you find Cabe?" He asked, before pulling on gloves and entering the room, "Hey there big guy." He soothed, opening up the windows to help relive the smell. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Paige answered honestly, "One moment he was playing with one of Happy's cars, and the next he was screaming and crying..."

Toby picked up the car and looked it over, "Happy, can you come here?"

Cabe walked in the same time as Happy, "What's up Doc?" She asked.

"It's not like you to leave a few bolts out of place...where are they?"

Happy's eyes widened, "How did he get that? I haven't given him and cars to play with today. I don't even recognize that one..."

"He swallowed them." Toby mumbled, "Someone loosened the bolts for him to swallow. Cabe, call 911, it's a pretty big model and the bolts could rip open something."

Cabe ran out of the room quickly, dialing 911 as he ran.

Paige was in tears, "I am so sorry Toby, I don't know how this happened...Walter called me into his room and I was there for a few minutes, but I swear I-"

"What's going on in here?"

The three people turned, shocked to see Walter in the doorway. He wheeled his way in, "Sly?" He asked, "What's going on, Tobias?"

"He swallowed some bolts."

"How did that happen?" It was accusatory.

No one answered.

Walter wheeled himself over to the bedside table and picked up the car, turning it over, "This is a large car model, bigger than my hand. The bolts had to have been loosened purposely, I can't even loosen them, and Sylvester is weaker than me."

"So...someone wanted to hurt Sylvester?" Paige asked worriedly, as Sylvester made a gagging noise, and began retching again. "But why is he throwing up so much?"

"I don't know."

It was the last conversation Paige and Walter would have for a few days, as when the paramedics came in, Sylvester had grabbed onto her sleeve with such ferocity and fear that Paige rode in the ambulance with him.

Toby drove with Ralph over to the hospital, leaving the Orderlies and Cabe to take care of Walter and Happy.

"Sly?"

It surprised Toby to hear Ralph say something, "He's going to be ok." He reassured the boy, "Sylvester's a tough guy."

He wished he believed his own words.

 **Oh no! Poor Sylvester! What do you think happened to him? Lemme know in Reviewwsss**


	5. Chapter 5

**I apologize sO MUCH for the late upload. Lots of end-of-the-year studying, and during that time my computer gets snatched up so I can't write. I'm not doing the shoutouts this time because I want to get this out ASAP, but I'll do it next time. Please lemme know what you think, and again I apologize for the late upload.**

Chapter 5:

"Poison on the bolt?"

The doctor nodded solemnly, "I'm afraid so."

Paige stood, anger radiating off her, "What kind of poison are we talking about?"

He sighed, "From what we know, and that isn't much yet, our best guess would be rat poisoning. Listen, Mrs. Dineen, I wish I could stay and talk but I've just been called..."

"How long does he have to stay here?" Paige demanded.

Doctor Burke rubbed a hand thru his hair, "I would say overnight, the bolt had such a small dose on it. I wouldn't worry, he's stable now."

Paige watched helplessly as the doctor rushed away, disappearing into a mass of nurses and patients.

As she walked into the room, she could hear Sylvester's wails. The hospital was _not_ his bed, and Sylvester was going to throw a tantrum until he could go back home, was Toby's explanation. The doctors offered to drug him, but Sylvester's tolerance for certain drugs were significantly lower than normal, and so nothing could be done.

Toby looked up briefly as she entered the room, before looking back down at the man screaming on the bed. Paige sighed, "Did they have to restrain him?"

"He threw the tissue box at a nurse." Toby stated simply, returning to his job of calming Sylvester. "This is an all-night job, Paige. I'll take the first shift, and I'll wake you when it's your turn."

Paige didn't know how she was going to sleep, but it didn't take long for her to drift into a weak, fitful sleep.

It was when she awoke, that she noticed the screaming, wailing noises of the man on the bed...were quieted. Quickly, Paige bolted upright, expecting the worst...but instead, she was astonished.

 _"_ _The Borogoves looked flimsy and miserable, and the Mome Raths bellowed and whistled, "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub Bird, and shun the fuming, furious Bandersnatch!"_

Paige sat up a bit straighter, taking in the sight of the prestigious Walter O'Brian, holding the open book, "Alice in Wonderland." Beside him, Toby had fallen asleep, snoring against the wall, perched precariously on a rickety stool.

 _"_ _With Vorpal Sword in hand, He rested by the Tumtum tree, thinking, reflecting on time spent seeking his fearsome foe. And, as he thought, The Jabberwock tore through the dense wood, eyes aflame, howling. As blows exchanged, the Vorpal Blade cut and thrust. The Jabberwock, slain, was left in the woods, as He shambled back with its head."_

Paige propped herself up on her elbow, smiling softly. The man's curly hair was in disarray, probably from disturbed sleep. She couldn't help but see how his eyes flashed over the words on the paper, shining and glowing. He seemed different, strong even, with that book in his hands.

 _"_ _And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O fabulous, joyous day! Hoorah! Hooray!" He chuckled and snorted in his joy."_

Paige couldn't help giggling, when she heard Walter's voice get excited. He turned his head quickly, his face seeming to darken. "Oh please..." She murmured, "Keep going."

Without a word to her, Walter continued reading, but the life he had shown was a simple glimmer, and he was almost a shadow of himself.

 _"_ _It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and the lithe, slimy Toves spun and bore into the rain-soaked hillside. The Borogoves looked flimsy and miserable, and the Mome Raths bellowed and whistled-"_

He cut off, snapping the book shut with such a clap that Paige worried that Sylvester would wake up, and start his relentless screeching, but the large man only shifted, settling once more.

"I didn't see you there." Walter said softly.

Paige smiled, "Well when I was last awake, you weren't here for me to tell."

Walter nodded shortly, "I called a friend. Checked myself out, I'll check back in when we get Sly back home." He looked down at the sleeping man, a ghost of a smile on his face.

Paige sighed, shifting herself around in her chair, "I didn't know you knew Sylvester."

"I know him well." Walter said shortly, "He used to come into my room and listen to me read. He loves that."

"Why don't you do that anymore?"

And just like that, the shield was back up, and Walter was again, 'Mr. O'Brian'. "I don't believe my personal life is any of your business."

Paige sat silent, jotting down mental notes. No talking about...whatever she just talked about. "So...if you know Sylvester, do you know Happy?"

"Again, quite well." Walter said simply, "She would sometimes accompany Sylvester to my room for some mechanical advice, if I could give any...and by mechanical advice, I mean she wanted to ask if I could help her convince the orderlies to get her another vehicle. She loves this book." He mentioned absentmindedly, "Said that she felt like she was Alice sometimes, just falling down an endless rabbit hole-" He cut off, as if just noticing who he was talking to, "You don't care."

Paige blinked, "But I do-"

"No you don't, none of you ever care. You're awake now, you're watching Sylvester, I'll take my leave-"

In a swift moment, Paige was standing in the doorway, "Now you listen to me O'Brian." She steamed, "Your friend is _hurting_ , and when he wakes up, he's going to want you. Not Toby, not me, but you. You said you were staying, so you're staying. And another thing, don't you ever think I don't care, because I do care, very much, if I didn't care I would have quit my job weeks ago. That list of rules is enough to drive...anyone away." She stopped. "That's why you do it."

Stunned from her tirade, Walter blinked, "Why I do what?"

"Give every new orderly that giant, unfollowable list. You want to drive away anyone who doesn't care; you're protecting your friends. I mean, I wouldn't want just anybody taking care of my son, so instead of not knowing what they'll do behind your back, you test them." She sat down in her chair, "I'm right, aren't I?"

He didn't answer.

But, Toby did.

"Walter, see what I mean? She's sharp, I knew she'd figure it out sooner or later." Toby, who apparently had _not_ been sleeping during Paige's angry tirade, stood up. "Good work, Mrs. Dineen." He smiled.

Paige sat back, a weight lifting off her shoulders.

Just in this moment

For this one second

Paige Dineen had done something right.


End file.
